Articles by: Todd of Nimble

The most important rule may seem counterproductive, but social media has changed the sales relationship.Five minutes after the earliest social media sites sprang up, numerous people proclaimed themselves gurus, experts in how sales and marketing professionals could use the new communities to increase sales.

A social media strategy shouldn’t be a list of action items. It’s bigger than that.

It’s a common enough mistake: You jump into social media because you want to increase sales, but all you really have is a list of tactics. Give away product samples on Facebook. Develop a twice-weekly blog. Set up a customer response Twitter feed.

You’ve done it hundreds of times: broken the ice with a prospect. But how do you do this online?

You’ve probably developed numerous ways to start conversations with potential customers. And if you’ve enjoyed even modest success in sales, none of those chats start with, I’m selling…or…Would you like to buy?…or…Let me tell you about my company’s products.

Same goes online. You can use the communication tools that social media networks offer to get to know potential customers, and to let them learn about you.